Definition of Forensic genetics

Forensic genetics: The branch of genetics that deals with the application of genetic knowledge to legal problems and legal proceedings. Forensic genetics is also a branch of forensic medicine which deals more broadly with the application of medical knowledge to legal matters.

Forensic genetics today tends to conjure up DNA. However, even the term "DNA fingerprinting" is reminiscent of older methods of police identification. Forensic genetics is not a new field. Long before the era of DNA fingerprinting, blood grouping, HLA typing and other tests of genetic markers in blood were done to try to determine who did it (and, more often, who did not do it).